POOR Terry Connor. There he was sat between the great, the good and the perhaps not quite so good on the biggest stage of all in British football...

And he couldn’t get a word out.

Connor blames the air conditioning system at Wolves’ Compton training base for making him lose his voice when he met the press that afternoon.

The same evening he was whisked up to Manchester United’s Europa League clash with Ajax with first-team coach Steve Weaver... not show-boating, but a spot of scouting work ahead of United’s trip to Molineux.

And by the time he got there his voice had completely disappeared.

Which was a pity as the folk he was sat with at Old Trafford might have wanted to hear his thoughts on his then caretaker posting at Wolves, which became a permanent position around 14 hours later.

“I definitely believe it was that,” said Connor when asked about the air conditioning. “It was the Thursday and everybody was in here (in the press room) and the heating was turned right up. And I could feel myself getting drier and drier. Then I went up to Old Trafford and by the time I got to the game, I couldn’t speak.

“I had Weaves in the car and he was talking to me and I couldn’t get my words out.

“Then I sat to watch the game and there was Harry Redknapp, future England manager, Stuart Pearce, (Roberto) Mancini. Those three are sat there, I am sat here and I couldn’t say a word and they were all talking. I couldn’t join in or anything!”

? GRASS-EATING Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was left feeling a little out of the ordinary after his clash of heads with Chris Smalling at Wembley last week.

Not only did the Holland striker immediately leave the field after the nasty collision, he was also seen with a mouthful of turf in a semi-conscious state. Maybe he wanted something to remember his goalscoring appearance.